While exploring LasVegas for SEMA, I love to escape into the least vegas feeling Vdara in City Center. Of course this means being surrounded by the stunning mix of modern architecture and large scale modern sculptures galore. One can’t help but stare at Nancy Rubins’ Big Edge in the center of the huge roundabout ~ with boats somehow forming a huge tree light structure… with more than 200 aluminum boats — canoes, rowboats and flat-bottomed boats strung together with steel wire into a colorful cluster held together with cantilevers, they manage to look nearly in motion, as if exploding apart! Nancy Rubins has been making these large boat structures for some time now and Big Edge is a larger version of her “Big Pleasure Point” in the Lincoln Center in New York, with similar pieces around the country. Perhaps one of the best parts of being placed in the center of City Center in LasVegas is the ability for everyone to enjoy it in so many different lighting situations, so Shawn Sims had a little late night photoshoot last night wandering up close to it to share some of its amazing looks at night! Take a peek at all of the pics on the next page!

Frankie’s Tiki Room is definitely one of my favorite spots in LasVegas - i’ve shown you pics of the place, the amazing SHAG Vice Tester machine, and some of my favorite mugs. Well they have a NEW one that is stunning! (Keep in mind they always have 8 signature drinks with matching mugs… and the mugs change over time!) Email just came in with this one saying “THE NEW MALEKULA TIKI MUG HAS ARRIVED! This striking new tiki mug, sculpted by reclusive artist Jack Churchill.” Isn’t it beautiful? Luckily, if you’re far from vegas, you can order it online… but really, it’s more fun to go get a drink out of in in person! And if you’re curious what a Malekula IS… see the next page…

New sponsored content series ~ this time LasVegas is letting me rant and share some vegas awesomeness NOTCOT style! As usual, my pics, my story, they just give me an excuse to talk Vegas.. and share some of my favorite bits!

While exploring the inspirational side of LasVegas ~ i challenged Leo to look in to the history of Slot Machines, after all technology has certainly changed it quite a bit! But where did it begin? Visually? And where is it headed? Take a peek at what he found on the next page… everything from where they started in the 1880’s to Star Wars slots to targeted advertising in machines today…

New sponsored content series ~ this time LasVegas is letting me rant and share some vegas awesomeness NOTCOT style! As usual, my pics, my story, they just give me an excuse to talk Vegas.. and share some of my favorite bits!

Who doesn’t find the “Truisms” of text artist, Jenny Holzer, intriguing… especially when paired with a huge LasVegas drive way… like at the Aria at CityCenter? The LasVegas Sun highlighted a few good ones (out of around 200 programed into the LED display art) - “It’s important to stay clean on all levels.” “Overeating should be criminal.” “If you live simply, there is nothing to worry about.” “It’s not good to operate on credit.” - also love the logic they highlighted here - “Holzer was tapped by Michele Quinn, whom MGM Mirage tasked with overseeing its ambitious public art effort. Quinn describes herself as “kind of a groupie” of Holzer’s, and says she thought such an LED installation could be the best use of such an awkward, dark space as this lower-level valet area. People would be waiting around anyway, so why not give them something to look at — and think about — as they departed?” So true! And as i stood there plastered against the glass window, a herd of frat boys behind me lining up for the club, i just couldn’t stop reading them…if only i’d known there were 200 at the time, i wouldn’t have felt so bad leaving in the midst of trying to read them all! I may have been there forever! Take a peek at a few closeups and some youtube videos i found on the next page!

P.S.
Apparently the very fun Twitter handle @JennyHolzer is a fake! But the real Jenny Holzer has been quoted not to mind…

New sponsored content series ~ this time LasVegas is letting me rant and share some vegas awesomeness NOTCOT style! As usual, my pics, my story, they just give me an excuse to talk Vegas.. and share some of my favorite bits!

There’s something so nostalgic and beautiful about the early days of LasVegas and the incredible neon signage that was unmissable. Sadly as more and more of these come down, they tend to end up in the Neon Graveyard! Which is only a PART of the Neon Museum which is trying to save this critical part of LasVegas history. Graphically they are absolutely stunning ~ i’m particularly a sucker for those which move… They Neon Museum has even been reviving some of these signs and have them up around vegas, with 10 amazing ones from the 50s and 60s up on Fremont Street ~ in what they are calling their gallery… but they are basically on the main street 24/7 for your viewing pleasure! So on the next page you can take a peek at some of my favorite neon signs spotted around LasVegas from a few trips ago…

CES is always madness, but in recent years when there have been more and more people i get excited to meet up with there, you’ll notice that my posts about the technology become more discriminating (and there’s less awesome to share, sadly) ~ and i actually end up finding more inspiration in the unexpected and beauty in the chaos. The other night patterns seemed to be my thing… large crazy vegas patterns that were popping up and screaming to be photographed… Or maybe me + drinks that night = pattern obsessed, but really i blame the mandarin oriental bar. It started with dinner hosted by HTC (where i might have gone unexpectedly fangirl when next to me was PCMag’s Sascha Segan mentioned his wife is the awesome artist Leontine Greenberg)…. great conversations with some fun journalists, the HTC marketing and design folks (SO fun and sweet)… followed by “O”… then regrouping for drinks at the Aria with the boys of Cool Hunting… then drinks at the Mandarin Oriental… and as the group dwindled down, and the drinks and inspiration kept flowing… you can take a peek on the next page of the visuals that captivated me!